My Dog Is As Smelly As Dirty Socks: And Other Funny Family Portraits

by Hanoch Piven

How do you draw a playful daddy? Or a smelly dog? For any kid who's ever been asked to "draw a picture of your family," here's an unusual and much more fun take on the project! Using objects to represent personality traits, acclaimed illustrator Hanoch Piven creates simple and funny portraits that perfectly describe all the members of one girl's family. Children of all ages will be inspired to make their own family portraits after reading this book.

 

Genres: Picture Books, Family, Childrens, Art, Humor, Storytime, Dogs

40 pages, Paperback

First published May 8, 2007

Reviews

[(NS) Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Grade Level: K-5

I loved this book for its celebration of creativity and imagination! The story is told from the perspective of a little girl who is not quite satified with the simple family portrait she has drawn for her teacher with a pen on a piece of plain notebook paper. Her original drawing fails to capture her family members' true personalities, and so she sets about describing each of them through common household objects that she glues on top of watercolor bodies to create a new set of portraits. For example, she incorportates a knotted rope as her dad's mouth because "sometimes he's as stubborn as a knot in a rope," and springs for eyebrows because "My daddy is as jumpy as a spring".

This book could be used in many different ways in the classroom. There are countless examples of similes throughout the text that could be used as examples during a poetry unit. The book could also be read by first taking a "picture walk" through the illustrations. Students could share ideas about what the objects incorporated into each portrait might tell us about each family member. Predictions could be confirmed with a second read-through, including the text. This would also be a great "back-to-school" activity for building classroom community. Students could create their own self-portraits using common objects, and then write a series of "simile clues" following the format of the book to share with their classmates.

[Hope · Rating 3 out of 5]

WD in WI

[Kim Redington · Rating 5 out of 5]

LOVED this book, read it to my preschoolers and then we made our own self-portraits! The author is very clever and creative, using similes to describe the family members and then creates illustrations using objects (loud as a whistle) in the pictures. I even bought a copy for myself! Highly recommend for all ages!

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

When it comes to really nailing the essence of a loved one, argues the girl who narrates Piven’s latest collage confection, the truly committed artist must eschew paper and pencil and turn instead to the found object. Thus, the full stinky-ness of Schmutz, the girl’s dog, comes alive in an assemblage that includes real socks for ears, garlic for eyes, an onion for the tail and pepperoni for a nose. "Yucky-Boo!" announces the girl as the dachshund-like doggie is revealed, "I warned you."

The girl’s self-portrait is a veritable catalog of objects, from the obligatory crown to a magnifying glass (for curiosity). Some of the rationales for objects don’t sound very kid-like — dad’s mouth, the girl explains, was inspired by his tendency to be "as stubborn as a KNOT in a ROPE."

But Piven astutely captures the restless imagination and unsparing self-criticism that defines the budding artist; the girl dismisses her own drawing of her mother with a curt, "Sorry, but it doesn’t tell the whole story."

This invitation for readers to create portraits of "your special family" — Piven even throws in a few suggestions for things that suggest qualities like 'smart' and 'funny' — is certain to get a prompt RSVP.

Preview above was taken from Publishers Weekly website

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had a recent conversation about the growth needed for young primary students to learn to use figurative language, that it was a big step for them to use comparisons that can be abstract. Here is a book that will be one answer, filled with descriptions of a young girl’s family using simple objects that both create visual portraits and tell why! For example, the girl says her brother is as “strong as a baseball bat” and (in hide-and-seek) “as sneaky as a snake”. Hanoch Piven then uses representations of these things to create the picture. It would be a useful book for many ages, but particularly primary students.
The collages are so clever. I imagine this artist has boxes of small, interesting objects to use in his work.

[Elizabeth Mcdonough · Rating 4 out of 5]

A young girl draw a stick figure representation of her family. Then she realizes that this picture doesn't do a good job of really representing her family. She uses similes to describe her family members and then she make their drawing from using the objects she compares them to. For example, her baby brother is so loud. He's as loud as a whistle, a horn, and even a fire truck! She creates a picture of her baby brother using these objects (whistles for his eyes, a horn for his mouth, and he is holding a fire truck). This book is great for teaching figurative language: similes.

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is so fun! It's about a little girl who has to make a portrait of her family for school. She is not impressed with her drawing because she doesn't feel it describes them well enough. She takes everyday objects and uses them to describe her family and herself. Very cute, I would love to use this at story time or as a family program and have the kids make their own portraits at the end with different objects. It would also be a great way to teach older kids about similes.

[babyhippoface · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you're teaching similes, you NEED this book. Collaborate with your art teacher and have kids bring objects from home to create portraits of themselves!

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

39 months - this is a funny book and O enjoyed it so much she wanted to make her own family portraits with found items. We will have to borrow this again and do a few activities.

[Huda Fel · Rating 5 out of 5]

loved the idea of this book.
what materials will "make" your own family?

[Cosette · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is genius. Such an artistic idea!

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

-A brief summary of the book
This book is about a picture that the main character's sibling drew and the main character went through the book making changes with similes. The character described herself and all of her family including their family dog using similes.
-Your evaluation of the book supported by at least one reason
I enjoyed this book and liked the use of the similes throughout it. I really liked how the characters were described and shown within the book.
-One detailed and specific teaching idea that you could use with your book
We also used this book to begin showing figurative language such as similes in literature. The students quickly realized that although the dog may be smelly, it doesn't actually smell like dirty socks.

[Nicole Hernandez · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really loved this book because of all of the creativity and imagination it displays. It also has tons of figurative language and would be good to teach some vocabulary or do an exciting art projects. It explains how a students family is so much more than a drawing and the student uses all of these different objects to create what really shows the character of their family members. "My mom is as bright as a light." This book had great illustrations as well. I would definitely use this for an activity in my classroom.

[Karla · Rating 5 out of 5]

BUY THIS BOOK!
It's wonderful!
Illustrations are unique and funny. This is an amazing story to share with young children to build their vocabularies and introduce descriptive writing. It's very well done. I can't sing the author's praises enough! (Maybe as loud as a whistle, or maybe a horn...)
The ending is especially wonderful- tell me about your special family. "What do they look like" challenge spins an activity- love that!

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Found in the activity alcove in the art museum in OKC. A little long for that setting, but perfect for a family or classroom. Even older students could use it to have fun with symbolic artistic expression. After all, symbols have been used in art into the indefinite past (see, for fun examples, here: http://blog.artsome.co/decoding-symbo...).

[Emily MaiEvilTwin A · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super cute, Sparks the imagination

Although it starts out selling simplistic, this cleaver book is flooded with amazing descriptors and would make a wonderful prompt to inspire creativity and colorful vocabulary.

[Meg McGregor · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderfully inventive way, to bring both art and writing, either into a classroom or home.

The girls want to create their own family portraits now!

I can't think of any better reason, to recommend this book! Can you?

[Lucerito Ramirez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Its cute and funny. Great book for teaching similes. I loved how we can use this book to help our little ones describe our family members. After reading I could even use this book and have my students create their own family portraits. This could be a great family project.

[Lynnea (Juv) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I heard about this book in a magazine so I reserved it to see what it was really like. I loved it! What a great way to help students learn to be descriptive in a fun way! When I get back in a classroom setting where I can use this, I definitely will!

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely love his book!

[Stacey Mulholland · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a fun book! I picked this gem up at a library book sale and I'm so glad I did. I am going to use it this year in my poetry unit with 3rd graders.

[emyrose8 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love it! Lots of figurative language! Plus great ideas for an art/writing project.

[Kirsten Murphy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love the creativity of this author!

TOPICS:
* family
* creativity
* individuality

BOOK CONNECTIONS:
* other books by this author
* The Perfect Purple Feather

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great for teaching similes!

[Andi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hilarious children’s book for figurative language.

[Lucca · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a cool, crafting activity book. So many conversations to have and art to make.

[Vanessa]

i think this is good!!!!!!!!!

[Tracy Schillemore · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like that this book encourages children to use found materials to create art.

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of fun.

[Luella Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting concept that would get kids thinking about objects and how they can describe us.